Karzai was warned of assassination plot

Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak (L) addresses parliament in Kabul yesterday. Afghanistan's parliament summoned national security leaders for questioning over an attack at a parade that killed three people, including an MP, although President Hamid Karzai survived. Photo: AFP

President Hamid Karzai was warned of a weekend assassination plot against him, Afghanistan's intelligence chief said Tuesday, while admitting failings by security services.
Meanwhile, a suicide attack killed 15 people in an eastern province, a Nato spokesman said.
The insurgent Taliban movement said one of its fighters carried out the suicide bombing in the small town of Khogyani in the eastern province of Nangarhar.
Amrullah Saleh told Parliament the plot to kill Karzai was hatched last month and the gunmen had rented the hotel room they opened fire from 45 days before the attack.
Karzai and other dignitaries escaped unharmed from Sunday's assault during a ceremony in Kabul marking Afghanistan's victory over the Soviet occupation of the country in the 1980s. Three other people, including a lawmaker, died.
Three of the attackers were also killed in a gunbattle with security forces after the assault, Karzai's government said, but the Taliban said three other insurgents got away.
"We had technical information ... that this work would happen," Saleh told a National Assembly session broadcast live on national television. "We passed this information to the national security (adviser) and to the president of Afghanistan."
Despite stringent measures by security services to protect the event, "the result is that we failed," Saleh said.
He refused to give further details about the plot during an open session.
An Afghan intelligence official has said about 100 people were rounded up for questioning after the attack. Some of those questioned have since been freed, officials say. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Saleh, Defence Minister Abdur Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Zarar Ahmad Moqbel were summoned to explain to lawmakers what happened Sunday.
Daud Sultanzoy, a lawmaker, demanded all three security officials resign although there was no immediate sign that would happen.
The attack in the Afghan capital underscored the fragile grip of Karzai's government in the face of Taliban insurgents.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday said the attack showed Karzai's administration is under a strong threat.